Jul 16, 2008 9:32 pm US/Mountain
Older Cars Can Get Better Mileage Than New Models
Better Mileage Than a Prius - But It's No Spring Chicken
Good Question: Why Don't Cars Get The Mileage They Used To?
DENVER (CBS4) ―
"You would not get a date in that car," said a woman who saw it. Two teenage boys said their dating chances were, "Zero to none." But go to the gas station and you will look pretty cool in the 1992 Geo Metro XFI CBS4 borrowed from Golden's Big Bear Motors for a test drive.
It's one of the all-time mileage champs. In fact, it outdoes today's best mileage winner in a trip from the Tech Center to Downtown. The current-day Prius gets 48 miles per gallon in the city and 45 on the highway. But when it was sold, the mighty (slow) Geo was rated at 53 mpg in the city and 58 highway.
So, you're asking, why does a car that's more than 15 years old get better mileage than today's top technology?
Good Question.
"Well it's a lighter car. It had three cylinders," said car guy Douglass Kirchdorfer of Downing Street Garage. "There are no more three cylinder cars anymore. Standard transmissions -- almost everybody has an automatic."
Three cylinders won't get you anywhere in a hurry. We were getting passed by just about everyone as we drove up Interstate 70 from Golden to Lookout Mountain. Far enough.
Now we've gone up the mountain in a Prius and they can move along without trouble.
The Prius, you see, has lots of stuff on it.
"And it really has a lot to do with all of the technology that the manufacturers have put on the new cars," Kirchdorfer said. "That adds more weight and brings the gas mileage down."
Not to mention the safety changes. Kirchdorfer says yesterday's Geo may pass the pumps, but it may not pass muster. "No because of the crash testing and because of the safety standards." The Geo has fewer crash rating stars than many consumers would be willing to accept today.
And then there's the change in mileage ratings. Not long ago, the government altered how it measures mileage. So the Geo isn't quite as efficient as we first thought.
"You'd probably get about seven or eight miles less per gallon than the advertised miles per gallon than it got when it was built."
So a mileage winner yes. The car of today? Not really. But they're selling. Eric Jarosz of Big Bear Motors sold the Geo we tested for $2,300. Not bad for a 16-year-old car without air conditioning that had a sticker as low as $7,000.
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